In the video above, The Package jams with Mambo Sauce, one of the leading go-go bands in the city. The two groups have never rocked together and it’s a great meeting between two powerful representatives of the city’s two main urban genres: go-go and hip-hop. The songs rocked are “Final Warning” (off of “Double R: Remixes and Rarities“) and “Lights” (off of Noyeek’s forthcoming second solo album, “Eartertainment”, coming later this year).
It’s beautiful how the band quickly adapts to a song they’ve never rehearsed, with Twink adding some cool drum hits to punctuate the chorus of “Final Warning”.
Attentive listeners will note that The Package is somewhat hilariously introduced by the name of their Twitter account, ThePackageDC.
Awesome to hear someone behind me say “That was one of the dopest…” behind me as the set ends. Ha-ha! Big up to whoever that was, glad you enjoyed the show!
This all went down at the Up and Up Showcase, which hits Liv (2001 11th St NW, 11th and U) every Tuesday night, show starting at 8:30 (happy hour 6-8), put on by the highly underrated superb hip-hop trio Gods’illa. Support those brothers, it’s a great event (they also just put out a very high quality debut album you should peep). Big up to the featured act of the night, NYC band Shinobi Ninja, and the other performers that rocked throughout the night, including Maimouna Youssef (nominated for a Grammy for her vocal work on The Roots’ “Don’t Feel Right”), Komplex a/k/a Kowboy Kom (of Fly Gypsy) and Tamika Jones.
“Basement Classics” is a late Valentines Day gift from PKG to everyone who has shown us love these past 12 months. Mixed by Theory, this blend of unreleased songs by Dimes and Noyeek (of The Package) and Spirit Equality should keep your winter warm till spring comes.
The Dimensions (a/k/a Dimes) songs are from his upcoming solo debut, “Slanguage (Brain Cell.a.Bration)” and the Noyeek the Grizzly Bear (a/k/a Grizz) songs are from his upcoming sophomore solo album “Eartertainment”, both dropping sooner than you expect (weather alert: spring and summer will be warmer than usual this year…LOL)
Find the mispronounced word on this mix for a special prize. Email guesses to spiritequality@gmail.com
Songs are as follows:
1. “Here I Am” Dimensions (of The Package) feat. Kokayi
2. “Hunger Pains” Dimensions (of The Package)
3. “Gunshots” Noyeek the Grizzly Bear (of The Package) feat. Blahz
4. “Forward March” Noyeek the Grizzly Bear (of The Package) feat. Dimensions and Blahz
5. “Dee Dot (Young Raven remix)” Dimensions (of The Package)
6. “Strangelove” Dimensions (of The Package)
7. “Sesame Street” Noyeek the Grizzly Bear (of The Package) feat. Head-Roc
8. “Salute” Spirit Equality (original version, originally recorded for a collabo with Emperess, then written as a full song, then re-worked as a collabo song with The Package)
9. “The Liberators” Spirit Equality (unreleased verse from The Liberators project)
Download and enjoy!
ps: Massive respect to Rule 4080 for spotlighting Basement Classics as well as “Chardonnay”, the first song off of Dimes’ upcoming solo album that we hit the public with! Massive respect also goes to DC Mumbo Sauce for spotlighting Basement Classics as well. Big up!
pps: If you ever wondered what the Infinite Loop sounded like and haven’t gotten around to downloading “First Contact” off of iTunes, a little over half of the core members of the Loop are represented on this project (Dimensions (f/k/a One2), Noyeek, Head-Roc, Blahz and Theory).
You might have seen Phonte and Foreign Exchange live onstage backed by a band called The El’s, but did you know that the guitarist from The El’s is also a dope producer in his own right? If not, allow me to present to you the sounds of Omar Retnuh a/k/a Mr. HU*. Omar produced this incredible new Dimensions solo track, “Chardonnay” off of his upcoming solo album, “Slanguage (Brain Cell.a.bration)”. We leaked this track late last year, but here it is for download! Album dropping sooner than you expect!
About the track: Dimes presents a somewhat humorous ode to veteran artists who have resorted to making more complaints than music, their sour grapes aging into not-so-fine wine (LOL).
Produced by Mr. HU (a/k/a Omar Retnuh)
Recorded and Mixed by Theory
* Astute music lovers should already be familiar with the sounds of Omar Retnuh, since he produced the Urban Ave 31 mixtapes that garnered DMV soul singer Raheim DeVaughn much of his early buzz. Prior to that, Omar held it down as the key producer and a key emcee in the crew The Remainz, alongside yU (now part of critically acclaimed trio Diamond District) and Omun.
We were hearing some complaints that there was no streaming option for the Double R mixtape, so we loaded the entire project on Bandcamp for you to stream the whole album! You also now have the option to download individual track as well as the entire project (for those who like some songs more than others). Thank you to the 700-plus kind souls who have already downloaded the Double R project! We’re happy to bring you all a few more options. Feel free to spread the link around to all of your people! Thanks again!
You can also stream or download New Golden Era there as well.
In the video above, The Package kills the stage yet again as they open for the legendary Myka 9 (f/k/a/ Mikah 9 of Freestyle Fellowship). I caught everything except the introduction from the host, Enoch 7th Prophet. This was part of the Upper Echelon tour’s DC stop. Tame One didn’t make this particular stop on the tour, unfortunately, but Prop Anon, Boombap Bullies and C-Chan were there to represent. Other performers included Educated Consumers, Ardamus, PG Skillet, Rosetta Stoned (well, really just Mental Stamina) and Watusi. There was also a lot of awesome freestyling over the dubstep sounds of top choice selector JKaNizzle throughout the night (including a bit by yours truly, video will come if I can find it).
Talk about starting the new year off right! I just got word via email that The Package has been nominated for Best Rap Group in the 2010 DMV Music Awards (formerly the DMV EMAs)! And many of our comrades are also nominated in various categories! Check out the full list of nominees at dmv202.com and congrats to Team Demo, Enoch 7th Prophet, XO, Oddisee, K-Beta, Princess of Controversy, J-Mills, Whitefolkz, and all our other fam who were nominated!
(several of our fellow nominees contributed to the excellent Package remix album, “Double R: Remixes and Rarities”…I hope you downloaded your free copy at http://tinyurl.com/pkgrmx with the hundreds of other kind souls who have so far!)
The Best Rap Group nominees are:
Oy Boyz
M-1 Platoon
LikeBlood The Package
1st Family
Wasteland Mob
Dyfor Entertainment
edit: The award went to…..Likeblood. Congratulations to those brothers, we opened up for them and Raekwon at the 9:30 Club just a few weeks ago. Very personable brothers.
As soon as I took this flick, I knew it would be a good year for us…beauty is a good luck charm, so Grizz standing next to her must have surely been a good omen. LOL. Sure enough, the year ended strong with LOADS of critical love in the blogsphere for the “Double R: Remixes and Rarities” project (which you can still download for free right here), including an extraordinary review by the newly revamped Start of the Line blog (welcome back to the blogosphere, homie!) as well as love from heavyweight bloggers such as the Okayplayer-approved good folk at rappersiknow.com (Jamie B and FWMJ, what up!) and SOHH founder’s eponymous blog kevinnottingham.com
(12/27 update: Flawless Hustle also joined the Double R party; thank you for the love as well!)
You really can’t get enough shots of Ms. Melanie Fiona in your life, so I might as well hit you off with another…
Roc Nation, what up! Tell Hov to holla at us, man! LOL…
ps: I also had loads of fun rhyming at Bohemian Caverns tonight…respect to Mental Stamina…Dimes jumped on stage for an impromptu battle session…niceness! Anyone with video or photos, please holla….
For the folks who have been neglecting to check our video section, we’ve got loads of new video footage of The Package tearing down various stages, like the one above at the Black L.U.V. Festival this past September. I’m going to be searching the ‘net today to see if I can find footage of their shows in Atlanta and Richmond (both shows that I missed, unfortunately). Enjoy the footage above and, as always, I also urge you to check out their recently released remix album, which can be downloaded for free at http://tinyurl.com/pkgrmx
ps: And last but most definitely NOT least, a bit of meditative mood music for this snowy day, allow us to (re-)present a special tribute to our fallen comrade Joy Oliver of the Amphibians family: mother of four, bringer of light, still shining…please take a listen to her song “Crystal Moon”, recorded shortly before she was taken from us, to shine above us: http://www.divshare.com/download/9838267-443
update: The show went well. The Package got to rock four songs (Final Warning, What You Sipping On, Here I Am and Lights), the last two of which were a medley due to the limited time in their short set. The crowd showed a lot of love and Dimes made sure to urge everyone to come to this fine site of ours so that folk could download our remix album assuming you haven’t already! So, after you click the lovely blue link in the prior sentence and dig on the sounds of The Package as remixed by some of the area’s best producers, you can marvel at the fact that you received this joyous gift for Free.99! Nothing beats FREE MUSIC in a recession, especially when it’s outrageously dope. :-)
side note 1: The footage above isn’t ideal because I was not able to secure a video pass beforehand and had to shoot guerilla-style.
side note 2: Does anyone know why Noreaga didn’t make it to the performance?
The Package’s “Double R: Remixes and Rarities” project can be downloaded for Free.99 right HERE! This very special project features contributions from the DMV’s finest, including: Kev Brown, J-$crilla, Kokayi, DJ Eurok and Drew_Kid, E-Minah, Krayola, Enoch 7th Prophet, Laelo Hood, Head Roc, Pure Fiya, Nazz, Nicole Rumeau, Jack Danger, and Spirit Equality*. It’s a DMV family affair and we’ve giving it to the world as a special “thank you” to everyone who has supported The Package and the New Golden Era movement so far! We love all of y’all! Extra special love to everyone who contributed to each song on the project. Some of the tracks are remixes from originals featured on the “New Golden Era” album (still on iTunes *smile*), while the rarities are either exclusives from upcoming solo records from Dimes and Grizz that you will hear in radically different form on those respective projects (e.g. Miss Yum Yum) or songs you never would have heard otherwise in any form (e.g. Dimes 10.0). Theory mixed the entire project to perfection.
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